Billy Elliot

County Durham, England, 1984. The miners' strike has started and the police have started coming up from Bethnal Green, starting a class war with the lower classes suffering. Caught in the middle of the conflict is 11-year old Billy Elliot, who, after leaving his boxing club for the day, stumbles upon a ballet class and finds out that he's naturally talented. He practices with his teacher Mrs. Wilkinson for an upcoming audition in Newcastle-upon Tyne for the royal Ballet school in London.

James Brown: Soul Survivor

James Brown's legacy has influenced rap, soul, funk and R&B. But along with his huge talent, there's a dark side to Brown's success that includes stints in prison and unceasing tabloid speculation. This in-depth documentary takes a look at the meteoric highs and deep lows of Brown's career, offering some fascinating insights from the Godfather of Soul himself, as well as interview footage with Chuck D, Little Richard, Wyclef Jean and many others.

Play It Loud! How Toronto Got Soul

In early 1960s Toronto, a white, Anglo-centric city, an underground music scene emerged from the Jamaican diaspora, led by newcomers like Jackie Mittoo, Wayne McGhie, and a young Jay Douglas. Battling racism and indifference, they left a lasting but underrecognized mark on Canadian music and culture. Nearly 60 years later, Jay Douglas still champions Jamaican music and is finally receiving long-overdue recognition. Play It Loud is a feature documentary that tells the little-known story of how Jamaican music became a vital, unlikely part of Canadian culture. It traces a cultural migration that made Canada a global hub for Jamaican music - celebrated abroad but overlooked at home. Told through the life and music of beloved singer Jay Douglas, born Clive Pinnock in rural Jamaica, the film follows his journey from teen performer to enduring icon.

The Wigan Casino

Documentary covering the famous Wigan Casino northern soul venue and the working class kids who spend all their money not on alcohol but on records and dancing all night.

Northern Soul: Living for the Weekend

The northern soul phenomenon was the most exciting underground British club movement of the 1970s. At its highpoint, thousands of disenchanted white working class youths across the north of England danced to obscure, mid-60s Motown-inspired sounds until the sun rose. A dynamic culture of fashions, dance moves, vinyl obsession and much more grew up around this - all fuelled by the love of rare black American soul music with an express-train beat.

Martha Reeves: Live in Concert

The sweetheart of Motown roars back on stage in this fantastic concert! Recorded in front of a energetic audience, the show contains performances of the Reeves classics Dancing In The Street, Nowhere To Run, (Love Is Like A) Heat Wave and lots more! Reeves has been shining in the spotlight recently with appearances on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, performing with The Crystal Method, as well as a recent performance on the hit TV show Dancing With The Stars.

The Beyoncé Experience Live

"The Beyoncé Experience Live" is a show by American R&B singer Beyoncé Knowles. It was shot in Staples Center, Los Angeles, California, on September 2, 2007, during her worldwide tour The Beyoncé Experience. The show features guest appearances from rapper Jay-Z on "Upgrade U" and former Destiny's Child mates Michelle Williams and Kelly Rowland on "Survivor". For one night only on November 19, 2007, the show was shown in theaters across the U.S.

Sparkle

Three sisters start out singing in their church choir in Harlem in the late 1950s and become a successful girl group in the 1960s.

Catfish Blues

Charles Bradley & His Extraordinaires - Crossroads Festival

24 Hour Party People

Manchester, 1976. Tony Wilson is an ambitious but frustrated local TV news reporter looking for a way to make his mark. After witnessing a life-changing concert by a band known as the Sex Pistols, he persuades his station to televise one of their performances, and soon Manchester's punk groups are clamoring for him to manage them. Riding the wave of a musical revolution, Wilson and his friends create the legendary Factory Records label and The Hacienda club.

Earth, Wind & Fire

One of the hottest R&B groups of all time, the legendary Earth, Wind & Fire in concert define excitement. Captured live on their remarkable 1994 sell-out tour of Japan, this performance showcases the band's distinctive style and raw energy and marks Maurice White's last taped appearance with the group in concert. Always dynamite on stage with their unmistakable sound and electrifying showmanship, Earth, Wind & Fire combine all the greatest elements of rock and soul! 1. September 2. Let Your Feelings Show 3. Let's Groove 4. Runnin' 5. Boogie Wonderland 6. Can't Hide Love 7. Fantasy 8. Kalimba Interlude 9. Evil 10. Shining Star 11. Keep Your Head To The Sky 12. Reasons 13. Sing A Song 14. That's The Way Of The World 15. Wouldn't Change A Thing About You 16. After The Love Is Gone 17. System Of Survival

When We Were Kings

It's 1974. Muhammad Ali is 32 and thought by many to be past his prime. George Foreman is ten years younger and the heavyweight champion of the world. Promoter Don King wants to make a name for himself and offers both fighters five million dollars apiece to fight one another, and when they accept, King has only to come up with the money. He finds a willing backer in Mobutu Sese Suko, the dictator of Zaire, and the "Rumble in the Jungle" is set, including a musical festival featuring some of America's top black performers, like James Brown and B.B. King.

The Commitments

Jimmy Rabbitte, just a thick-ya out of school, gets a brilliant idea: to put a soul band together in Barrytown, his slum home in north Dublin. First he needs musicians and singers: things slowly start to click when he finds three fine-voiced females virtually in his back yard, a lead singer (Deco) at a wedding, and, responding to his ad, an aging trumpet player, Joey "The Lips" Fagan.

Dreamgirls

A trio of female soul singers cross over to the pop charts in the early 1960s, facing their own personal struggles along the way.

The Five Heartbeats

In the early 1960s, a quintet of hopeful, young African-American men form an amateur vocal group called The Five Heartbeats. After an initially rocky start, the group improves, turns pro, and rises to become a top flight music sensation. Along the way, however, the guys learn many hard lessons about the reality of the music industry.

Standing in the Shadows of Motown

In 1959, Berry Gordy Jr. gathered the best musicians from Detroit's thriving jazz and blues scene to begin cutting songs for his new record company. Over a fourteen year period they were the heartbeat on every hit from Motown's Detroit era. By the end of their phenomenal run, this unheralded group of musicians had played on more number ones hits than the Beach Boys, the Rolling Stones, Elvis and the Beatles combined - which makes them the greatest hit machine in the history of popular music. They called themselves the Funk Brothers. Forty-one years after they played their first note on a Motown record and three decades since they were all together, the Funk Brothers reunited back in Detroit to play their music and tell their unforgettable story, with the help of archival footage, still photos, narration, interviews, re-creation scenes, 20 Motown master tracks, and twelve new live performances of Motown classics with the Brothers backing up contemporary performers.

Rhythm 'n' Bayous: A Road Map to Louisiana Music

Documentary which celebrates the music of Louisiana.

Little Richard: I Am Everything

The story of the black, gay origins of rock n' roll. It explodes the whitewashed canon of American pop music to reveal the innovator – the originator – Richard Penniman. Through a wealth of archive and performance that brings us into Richard's complicated inner world, the film unspools the icon's life story with all its switchbacks and contradictions.

Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble: Live at the El Mocambo

Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble burn it up at the El Mocambo, a small club in Toronto, performing a short set list. During the concert Vaughan pulls off some Hendrix style guitar heroics. He does whammy bar tricks, bangs it on he floor, and makes noises with it. He also plays it behind his back.